Immediately after my 5spd swap, my steering wheel developed some extra side to side play when in the neutral position, and is now off center as well. I was looking in the FSM and really couldn't come up with any solutions. Any help is appreciated.

 

First the basics, did you get an alignment?

Did you remove the outer tie rods?
Did you remove the steering rack by any chance?

 

Nope. That's why I'm so puzzled.

 

I didn't get an alignment, but I don't think that would've thrown off the steering wheel like it did.

I only took the tie rods off to rotate the knuckle to remove the driveshafts.

 

I think I figured it out. I'm going to get an alignment tonight, it should take care of it.